


Kentucky Homemade Christmas

by Karios



Category: Leverage
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 14:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16997118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karios/pseuds/Karios
Summary: Eliot takes Parker for a country Christmas.





	Kentucky Homemade Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ultra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/gifts).



> I took the title of the collection really literally with this fic. It is 100% Christmas and 100% Fluff.
> 
> Merry Christmas Ultra!
> 
> Thank you to toomanysecrets for betaing and to Tana for the title!

Parker was surprised when Eliot suggested she join him back east for a Christmas reunion of sorts. “It's a low-key thing,” he explained. “A handful of Army buddies, some high school friends, maybe a cousin or two, then whoever matters to them. Some people bring their kids. It's meant to be a place to go for whoever needs one.”

“Like Rudolph's toys,” muttered Parker.

The three of them had watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & the Island of Misfit Toys the night prior, and Parker had, understandably, found it relatable. Eliot, too, felt the analogy was apt, even if he hadn't loved Hardison's declaration that Eliot was clearly the jelly-shooting squirtgun.

“Tough-looking on the outside, but sweet,” Parker had explained, before capturing his lips in buttery popcorn-flavored kiss.

Eliot smiled at her as he had the previous night. “Yeah darlin’. It's a misfit toys kinda party.”

Parker looked a little bit less wary. “Where is it again?”

“Friend's farm in Kentucky this year. No horses,” he said quickly, lest she worry about that possibility. “Kenny raises nothing but goats.”

Parker hopped down from her perch. A good sign, that only got better as she moved closer to him. “What would we do?”

“Well, we chop down a tree on the property and trim it, have a bonfire, eat too much, ice skate on anything that's smooth enough, play in the snow if there is any.”

“Do you cook?”

He nodded. “Sometimes I even play guitar and sing.”

Parker slipped into his lap. “That's worth going somewhere.”

Eliot chuckled, the sound a hum against Parker's throat. “Thought you might think so.”

* * *

They flew rather than drove. Parker fretted that she had ruined an important part of the Eliot reunion experience, but he showed her the snuggling advantages of airplane seats. “Serious advantages to having both hands free.”

It would have been perfect except the inflight movie wasn't the least bit Christmassy, and she couldn't get ahold of Hardison before they landed to demand that he change it somehow.

* * *

They arrived at Kenny’s around sunset, and the grass was green and dry, but the string lights and fake icicles dangling across the rooftops wrapped the buildings in a festive glow.

Kenny greeted them with hugs. Parker ducked carefully under his arm to avoid hers and waved awkwardly. Then she plonked down next to the fireplace with the fresh cookies and cocoa that their host had served. Kenny was a big, round man with a shock of white hair and a friendly, weathered face. If his beard were a little longer, Parker thought he could easily play Santa.

Eliot introduced Parker to a blur of names and faces as the farmhouse filled up, and when all of these strangers’ attention got uncomfortable, she slipped out back to meet the four-legged residents. Kenny taught her how to pet the goats and brought her a cup of feed to spread around.

When she snuggled up to Eliot that night, bent at an odd angle to fit them both in the twin bed, he seemed to like the way her clothes held a faint whiff of barnyard.

Eliot idly braided a few strands of her golden hair. “Having fun so far, Parker?”

Parker nodded. She liked Eliot always, but this Eliot, in-the-country Eliot, seemed at peace. “I think so.”

“That's good.” Eliot took up humming and that, along with his light scratching at her scalp as he fiddled with her hair, soothed her to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Christmas Eve, Parker bounded out of bed with glee. A light dusting of snow lent a crunch to their steps as they greeted the day. Parker couldn't resist forming and flinging a snowball at Eliot. Eliot responded in kind. When Parker threw another Eliot ducked, so the snowball hit a different human target. Soon the whole of the house joined in, each scraping up handfuls of the thin slushy snow. The battle left the lawn looking like a piece of green and white swiss cheese. It also meant all of Kenny's visitors were slightly damp as they tromped through the woods to look for the perfect Christmas tree.

They picked a tree after considering more than a dozen, as everyone bickered about the priority of height, width, shape, and fullness for more than an hour. Despite her upper body strength, Parker discovered that she had the wrong build for felling trees after she'd taken a single swing. Even so, she enjoyed her turn at hefting the axe; there was something satisfying about the sound the blade made as it bit into the thick trunk of the evergreen. She helped haul it back up to the house instead, guiding the the point of their magnificent find across the property and through the farmhouse.

During decoration duty, she taste-tested as many of the assorted candy canes as she got onto to the tree, though no one seemed to mind much. She could see why these were Eliot's other people. Eliot himself was to her right, unboxing and unwrapping a collection of newspaper-covered ornaments. He held up each one, telling Parker about them if he knew a particular piece's history. So many of them had stories. Many had been contributed by someone here this Christmas, or who had been here for a Christmas in the past. Eliot, who usually kept such a tight hold on any information about his past, was freer to share now that was surrounded by kinder memories. He rarely looked this at ease outside of the brew pub, and Parker was happy for him.

She was also just happy. She loved Eliot's rendition of Silver Bells around the bonfire, and dinner had included a sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, candied nuts, and a thick sugary goo that made everything on the plate taste better.

But so many people, talking about so many normal things, made it harder to know what to say or do. Without a cover ID, she wasn't sure what to tell them about herself except that she was with Eliot. They already knew that.

That was why Kenny found Parker out by the goats again. The scratchy goat fur under her hands was soothing.

“I get tired around so many people,” she explained before he could ask.

“I understand that. That's why I became a farmer. Goats are better listeners.” Kenny laughed at himself, a frame-jiggling guffaw that complimented his Santa Claus look. “You can stay out here as long as you like. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Parker shrugged. “I just don't want to embarrass Eliot.”

“I think he's a lot more worried about you not liking us.”

“Huh. Why?”

“Well El ain't got his Momma and Daddy no more. This is you meeting the family.”

Parker cocked her head to one side. She hadn’t seen it that way.

“It's been a long, long time since he had someone he wanted to show off like this.”

"Show me off?” repeated Parker, her forehead wrinkling as she tried to figure out what he meant.

Kenny nodded. “He’s proud to be yours.”

* * *

Before they knew it, it was time board their plane back home.

“Eliot, do you think we can get a goat?” Parker wondered, as Kentucky got smaller underneath them.

“Nah, Parker. Goats need more space than we have in Portland. But,” he got a little more hesitant, “you could come back here next year, if you wanted.”

Parker grew quiet. “I have a condition.”

Eliot waited, his eyes patient.

“We gotta get an ornament, for the box.”

“I like that. You got an idea for a little bit of Parker?”

Next year's tree had a tiny gold safe in a place of prominence.


End file.
